ARISE, . . . AND WALK
#803a ARISE, . . . AND WALK
Scripture John 5:1-16 Orig. 10/19/1983
Rewr. 2/19/1990
Passage: Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” 11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” 12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.
Purpose: Continuing a study from the Gospel, here measuring the three words spoken to an impotent man as a sample of our impotence to sin.
Keywords: Biographical Manuscript Miracle of Christ
Series, John Series, New Testament Characters
Introduction
John here records the first of two Sabbath healings (9:1-14). He explains in the ninth verses and following why this is important.
There are seven of the Sabbath events in all. They happen all over Palestine: in Jerusalem (both of John), Capernaum, other unidentified places through Jesus’ ministry. Three take place in synagogues, one immediately following a synagogue service, the other three without mention of same.
The healings cover all kinds of circumstances in the lives of the people involved. They are both man and women. They cross a total spectrum of kinds of people from a demoniac (Jesus’ first) to Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. They are the impotent, the blind, the lame, the withered.
We find these people under Satanic influence (Luke 4:31), bowed down in despondency (Luke 13:10), paralyzed, as the man in the text. We hear from a man in his condition for 38 years, a woman infirm for 18 years. When next we hear from John on this subject, it will be of a man “born blind” (John 9:1f).
Jesus approaches them all differently. He addresses the devil to come out of one (Luke 4:34), He commands another who could not to “stretch out his hand” (Luke 6:10), as He commanded this man who could not “to arise . . . and walk.”
There is one special feature that is common to all seven of them. Not one of the seven came to Jesus seeking His help. Not one of them thought that Jesus would or could intervene in their behalf. To what degree do you . . . seek Christ’s help . . . in your life? Hear His command “Arise?” What is it that we are hearing Him say to us . . . to do . . . that we clearly cannot?
I. First, There is a Scene Needing to be Set. V1, “There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”
Twice before has Jesus performed miracles. At Cana (John 2:1), almost against His own will, but v1 “manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believed.” When next He came to Cana, a “nobleman” went himself to Jesus to plead for his son whom Jesus healed. There were also Nicodemus, and the Samaritan woman. Jesus seems not to know the difference between poor and rich, haves and havenots. It anything, the level of His compassion is directed more to the poor.
Back in Jerusalem, He finds Himself surrounded by a sea of diseases. John describes them [as] “impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered.” The number described is four. The meaning is “needs abounding.” His gaze rests upon one special man. “A certain man, which had an infirmity, . . . thirty and eight years.”
The last thirty-eight years in my life are a tribute to grace: discharge, college, marriage, family, seminary, six pastorates; such troubles as there have been, have been quickly turned. But this man has lain in the same place, on the same pallet, for 38 years waiting for someone to assist him.
There are other needs at “Bethesda: house of mercy.” This pool, near the sheep gate, “having five porches.” Some say this did not happen. They call it a parable. The five porches stand for the failure of the five books of law for the Hebrew people. Legitimate truth, but the greatest is heeding what happens. This is the telling of only one story. We know not what else happened.
II. Second, We Must Search the Message of Meaning Contained Here. V6, “When Jesus saw him . . . and knew that he had been . . . a long time, . . . He saith, ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’”
The genius of the ministry of Jesus is here contained. The son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost. They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. I come to call, not the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.
The congregation went from “wonder” (John 4:22), to “wrath” (v28) when Jesus described their faithlessness in ministering to the world’s neglected. It was a Samaritan, woman, to whom Jesus described Messiahship. Samaritans became an object of His compassion. John 8:48 “Thou art a Samaritan, hast a devil.”
Publicans likewise found Him concerned for their welfare. See Matthew 9:10. Luke 7:34 “a friend of publicans.” Publicly he called to Zacchaeus.
Isaiah, other prophets, knew that God was the God of the lost sheep, the infirm, the leper. Isaiah 14:32 “The Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of His people shall trust in it.”
Any ministry, purportedly Christian, that does not make room for the benighted of this earth is doomed to failure.
III. Thirdly, We Must Give Attention to the Three Words Spoken by Jesus to This Man. V6, “Wilt thou be made whole?” V8, “Rise, take up thy bed and walk.” V14, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee.”
He speaks first to the man’s absolute-most need. “Wilt thou be made whole?” An unconscionable thing to ask if He cannot meet this man’s needs. It is in the same way we are confronted. What ties us to the ordinary? What will free us to do God’s will? Do you want to do what you cannot? Are you willing to will His Will? It is not drink, or drugs, or sexual privation where such are not problems. Jesus doesn’t demand what he cannot deliver: Why youth are indifferent; why adults compromise their faith.
Next, He places a three-fold demand upon this helpless man. He is to do what he cannot: “Rise!” Walking can be a near impossible thing; wildebeest calf running with the herd. We perceive God’s will through His Word, and follow Christ who is His son. “Take up your bed!” Marcus Dods (T2p218) gives us a thumbnail application: “Why was the man to take up his bed? In order that there should be no provision made for a relapse.”
He was not to leave himself vulnerable to succumbing to the old ways again. Even a 38-year-old pallet is tempting when struggles persist. Hebrews in the wilderness were ready to return to Egypt (Numbers 11:5). The thing that keeps you from HIM you must not only surrender, you must sacrifice. “Walk!”
The third word spoken to this man takes place later, in the temple. “Sin no more lest a worse thing come upon thee!” Isn’t it graphic to discover this man so suddenly in the temple. 2,000 weeks disappeared with God? It is also graphic to measure our excuses for not being. You, child of His love, of His blood, of His power dare to go on sinning the same sin.
You know God’s will; stop sinning. There will always be another, but we best not be indifferent to it. A thing worse: 38 years in hopelessness.